I have seen a number of complaints on site access restriction by their Internet Service Providers, request to change IP address so as to gain access to some websites where their original IPs have been banned (e-gold users mostly), or simply for anonymity in their browsing activity.

While it feels so cool to by-pass these, they "so-called" anonymizers in the real world, may be not to so anonymous afterall.

Read on:

In using a proxy server (for example, anonymizing HTTP proxy), all data sent to the service being used (for example, HTTP server in a website) must pass through the proxy server before being sent to the service, mostly in unencrypted form. It is therefore possible, and has been demonstrated, for a malicious proxy server to record everything sent to the proxy: including unencrypted logins and passwords. Imagine having your e-gold account details leached and your precious eMetal zapped out!!!

We use these proxies without knowing who is and what the intentions of the person(s) hosting them really is. No doubt, some are just in good spirit but remember, like the old saying goes, "There's no honour amongst thieves!!!". . .in this case, since most people that choose anoymity engage in NOT TOO LEGAL dealing, their falling as victims is almost justified. The proxy host might just be waiting for unsuspecting users to access its service, and then steal stuff like your passwords, credit card information and a lot more.

For those that feel it can't be traced back to them, most anonymizers(proxy server hosts) that don't reveal data about the original requester(obfuscates activities from the eyes of the user's destination but not necessarily obfuscating the data on the proxy itself) don't have their policies and administrators published with the appropriate regulatory bodies. In turn, most users may fall victim to a false sense of security just because those details are out of sight and mind.


Enough said now. . .the choice to use or not to use public proxies is up to you!


Cheers!

PS: If you still want to use it but don't know how to configure it, go to this Nairaland thread for explanation.

wot about we that jst want to do harmless stuff (like test on tickle-personally dats d reason i've been considering this proxy thingy) is there is safer way to do it cos tickle'll tell u something abt it(tickle) not being avalabe in ur cntry if u try to browse it normally

Like I said, not all the free public proxies are hosted by fraudsters. There are some genuine ones out there. . .some institutions actually have open proxies. But I don't know how to confirm the details of the proxy host yet. I'll do a little research and keep you posted.

Besides, if you have to you the proxy for your "tickle" stuff, just to be on the safe side, don't log onto sites where you have to enter you logon Id , password and credit informations etc. If its just normal browsing, I think you are safe enough.